Communicators recognised at Inside Story awards

Last night nearly 200 internal communicators gathered at the iconic Gherkin building in London for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Inside #insidestory awards.

Set against the stunning backdrop of the London sky at night from 40 floors up, finalists and winners were toasted at the celebration that was hosted by Steph McGovern, Business Reporter at BBC Breakfast. Steph was a great choice, she was full of wit and helped mark the occasion well.

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners and my thanks to the CIPR Inside committee, particularly Katie Marlow, for all their hard work.

New CEO of the CIPR Alastair McCapra @CIPR_CEO, President Stephen Waddington @Wadds, and President-Elect Sarah Pinch @ms_organised, all attended to present awards and it was good to see them continuing to support the internal comms community.

You can see the full list of highly commended and winners via the CIPR website.

I was incredibly honoured to be named winner of the Best Individual Contribution to Internal Communication award. My thanks to Nick Andrews from Sequel Group who nominated me.

This is a brand new award and was coupled with a learning bursary in honour of Clare Latham. I spoke to Clare’s brother who was at the #insidestory awards and have promised to keep him updated on how I invest the bursary towards my professional development.

It was presented by Jonathan Abbott, Founder of ScarlettAbbott and Steph McGovern @stephbreakfast.

I’m very proud to receive the award and by the reasoning that was given: “A driving force behind many key industry initiatives, she helps the profession to help itself. What makes Rachel stand out in particular is her understanding and use of social media to highlight and drive best practice in internal communications. In this respect, she’s the best in the business.”

What’s next?
Lots of internal communicators asked me last night whether the stories of the people who won could or would be shared.

If they gave permission in their submissions, then the CIPR Inside website will be the place to look for their stories. I will have a chat with the committee to see what the plan is to publish them, and keep you posted as and when they appear.

Thank you to everyone who has got in touch with kind messages, I’ve been overwhelmed by the support and congratulations.